Definitions

Persons or organisations not formally involved in a transition experiment but likely to be confronted with the effects of the experiment, now or in the future, and capable of excerting an influence on the experiment.

Arena

A select group of front-runners from regime and niche who define the transition assignment in a structured process as a basis for a broader social movement.

Business case

A project management document describing the pros and cons of initiating a project or task.

Competence

The combination of explicit knowledge of a discipline, implicit knowledge from experience, tools, skills and attitude.

Expectation

That which one hopes or thinks will happen.

Experimenting

Empirical learning in practice or putting into practice an innovative concept.

First order learning

Learning within the context of a given problem definition and about the analysis of the chosen solution for that problem, while retaining the underlying theoretical insights or deep convictions and values.

Institutions

Major civil society organisations, or ways in which part of society is organised, for example, the government, market or scientific community; more or less cohesive sets of rules and procedures that guide the interaction and the behaviour of actors and organisations.

Landscape

Major social changes in the field of politics, culture and worldviews (for example globalisation, individualisation) or natural characteristics that are difficult to influence and are usually slow to change.

Monitor

Person performing monitoring activities.

Multi-level model, multi-level perspective

A scientific and analytical model derived from research into technological innovations. It is used to analyse transitions or system innovations in terms of the interaction of developments at different levels: regime, landscape and niche.

Niche

A (partially) protected space for experimental practices, which could produce new ways of meeting social needs.

Partners

Persons or organisations that are a formal part of the social network around a transition agenda or experiment.

Persistent problems

Problems that keep recurring or problems that, despite attempts to remedy them, are complex because of multiple causes and consequences or are embedded in social structures (regime, institution).They require the cooperation of many actors and as a result are difficult to resolve.

Perverse link

Connection between developments that are regarded as positive (A and B), and have negative side effects (C) that overshadow the positive effects.

Practice

Established patterns of behaviour designed to meet for social needs.

Reflexive monitoring

A participatory process of acquiring insight into the progress of the project or programme and its interaction with the environment. This includes reflecting on one's own points of departure and deeper convictions, and incorporating the resulting insights in the project or programme.

Regime

The institutions (sets of rules and procedures), physical infrastructure and culture including certain mental models. Regime, as defined here, is synonymous with ‘structure'.

Second order learning

The rethinking of dominant mental models and action models, particularly of theoretical insights and deeply rooted values and convictions.

Social challenge

An issue to do with a persistent social problem for which a transition experiment is seeking part of the answer. A social challenge transcends the interests of individuals or organisations.

Social system

A combination of elements (actors, structures, objects, institutions) designed to meet a particular social need.

Societal anchoring

The process and the activities that can bring about a social movement through individual and local experiments whose new practices come to be regarded as business as usual; launching and sustaining mutual reinforcement of new ways of working and structural elements, including those of the culture.

Stakeholder

Person or organisation not formally involved in a transition experiment but likely to be confronted with the effects of the experiment now or in the future, and capable of exerting an influence on the experiment.

Structure

The institutions (sets of rules and procedures), physical infrastructure and culture including certain mental models. Structure, as defined here, is synonymous with ‘regime'.

System innovation

A fundamental change in the way in which society meets its needs. System innovations involve cohesive changes in deeply ingrained patterns of action in the structures in which they are embedded. The term is synonymous with ‘transition'.

System innovation key idea

An innovative idea that expresses the key concept (or part of the key concept) for a possible innovation to the system and which overcomes a perverse link.

Transition

A fundamental change in the way in which society meets its needs. System innovations involve cohesive changes in deeply ingrained patterns of action in the structures in which they are embedded. The term is synonymous with ‘system innovation'.

Transition agenda

Clusters of outcomes of the vision creation process, which include the core of the persistent problem and the transition task, the guiding sustainability principles, and a limited number of target scenarios and transition paths, short term experiments and actions, and the conditions which allow them to be implemented.

Transition experiments

Strategically chosen projects or 'experiments' that are expected to make a major contribution to a transition, from which participants can learn about a social task and the accompanying system innovations and transition processes.

Transition path

A shared strategy to work towards a shared future ambition with a number of milestones along the way. A transition path provides the context for defining experiments, learning assignments and for taking stock of obstacles.

Vision

A shared view of a desired future, that is to say a future in which an acceptable and feasible solution for a social task is achieved.